Is There a Minimum Percentage of People Who Will Vote for Literally ANYONE with an “R” By Their Name?

The more I look at Donald Trump’s polling numbers and watch, with absolute horror, as around 40% of Americans say they will vote for this corrupt, clueless, incompetent, bigoted, neo-fascistic freak for President, I keep wondering: is there actually a certain percentage of Americans who will literally vote for ANYONE, no matter how bat**** crazy, with an “R” by their name? Here are a few no-doubt-about-it crazy extremists from the past few years, including two from Virginia, and the percentages of the vote they received.

Ken Cuccinelli (R), who has said (and done) about a million extremist, crazy things over the years, yet got 45.2% of the vote in the 2013 Virginia governor’s race, coming within 2.5 percentage points of Terry McAuliffe.

EW Jackson (R), about as extreme and insane as you can get in America (or any other country’s) politics: 44.5% in the 2013 Virginia LG campaign against Democrat Ralph Northam.

Richard Mourdock (R), who infamously said that “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen,” received 44.3% against Democrat Joe Donnelly in the 2012 US Senate race in purplish-red Indiana.

Todd Akin (R), a crazy guy who said, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” received 39.2% of the vote in purplish-red Missouri in 2012 against Democrat Claire McCaskill.

Christine O’Donnell (R), an unqualified wacko who among other things ran an “I’m not a witch” ad, received 40% of the vote in 2010 in the US Senate race in deep-blue Delaware against Democrat Chris Coons.

Cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs Carly Fiorina (R), of “demon sheep ad” infamy (and also, briefly, Ted Cruz’s running mate, before they literally – in her case – and figuratively – in his case – dropped off the stage), won 42.2% in deep-blue California against Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2010.

Joni Ernst (R), who is about as extreme as they come (among other things, she’s an “Agenda 21” conspiracy theorist, a believer in states being able to “nullify” federal laws, a climate science denier and a total gun nut), was actually ELECTED to the U.S. Senate, with 52.1% of the vote, from purplish Iowa in 2014. Shuddderrrr…

So…what does this look like to you? First off, I’d say that it’s quite possible that outright extremist loons can not just get in the 40s, but actually WIN (see Joni Ernst, for instance). Even in “blue” states, it looks like there’s a floor of around 40% of the vote for even the most bat****-crazy Republican (see Christine O’Donnell). And here in Virginia, friggin’ EW Jackson (!) received 44.5% of the vote against Ralph Northam, who was a solid, middle-of-the-road, non-corrupt, normal Democrat.

Bottom line: This is a small, non-scientific sample, but it looks like there are around 40%-45% of Americans who will literally vote for an insane person, as long as they have an “R” by their name. Yeah, “they walk among us.” Oh, and what does that say for this year’s presidential election? Basically, that Hillary Clinton had better get more than 45% of the vote, preferably 50% or higher, to ensure a win. Scary.